It's Not Based On Emotion

    GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! 🌞Before we start talking we should grab a hot cup of coffee or (as some prefer) a hot cup of cappuccino, find a comfortable spot in the house, and relax. I love to relax in the morning. It's so peaceful and quiet. It's the best time to spend a moment with our Creator, and a great way to start our day. Alright, are you ready? Let's talk. I was sitting in church the other night and a thought struck me in my heart. Have you ever stopped to realize that most of our daily activities is based on how we feel? Let me use myself as an example. I do not go out with friends on a regular basis. Why? Because most of the time I don't feel like being social, or going anywhere at all. I clean the house only when I feel that I have the motivation to do so. I dress up really nice for church, when I feel like looking half decent. There are some days when I don't feel like doing any school lessons after I get home from work. I NEVER feel like cooking, because I hate it. And we ALL can relate to the fact that most days out of the year we do not feel like going to work. Can I get an "Amen"? This just simple every day life examples to show us that, yes, we live our lives based on how we feel. We thrive on emotion. If you look up the definition of "emotion" Webster defines it as such: "a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body." In a nutshell you can say that emotions are our reactions/response to circumstances. The hardest part to this reality is admitting that we fellowship with God only when we feel to do so. Ouch! If that is not a slap in the face I don't know what is. I can admit that I have done this all my life. I used to be the one to cry out to God when things went wrong. Then when things were going really good I acted like I did not need Him anymore. I only knocked at His door when I needed something and then I said, "Great, thanks" and walked away until the next problem came along. I never stopped to think about how that must have made Him feel. Yes, He is a problem solver, but that's not all He is. I had to come to a point in my life that I needed to be serious about my relationship with my heavenly Father. We cannot be here one day and gone the next. Let me explain more about what I am trying to say. We have the tendency to read the Bible when we feel like doing so. If we don't want to take time to approach God in prayer, we don't. We don't feel like praising God 24/7, so we don't. Yet, we expect Him to answer our prayers. We expect Him to deliver and heal us. Why should He? We are ungrateful children reaching forth expecting a handout. We say," LORD, give me this," He gives it, and we are gone. What happens when He does not answer a prayer? We throw a tantrum. Sometimes, depending on the need/desire, we go so far as to say He has abandoned us. Have we forgotten what He promised us throughout His Word? In Deuteronomy 31:8 He promised us this, " And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." We should never think that He has abandoned us just because we do not get what we want sometimes. Let me share a thought that was shared with me one time. We were made by God and for God, and until we realize that our life will not make much sense. The goal of life is to not to seek for constant happiness, it is to grow in character. Don't take that statement the wrong way. We should always be happy, but being happy is NOT the only goal we should have. We should strive to always fellowship with God every day of the week, despite the way we feel. We forget that emotions are very deceiving. We cannot make it to the other side where the grass is greener based on how we feel. We have to be determined. Determination is a particular mind set where we are firm to achieve a desired end. We should strive to be better every day, but we cannot do that without God. If we change our way of thinking it will change our lives. It is a mindset problem. Let's consider King David as an example. If we take time to read about his life in the Old Testament and then read the psalms we can see the variety of emotions he experienced. In Psalms 34 David says, "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth." David is a good example of what it means to be determined. We can agree that most of the time he did not serve God based on how he felt, he served God based on what he knew in his heart. In 1 Samuel 30: 6 it says, " And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." This was a dark season for David and his men. The Amalekites invaded their city and took their wives and children captive. So they were grieved, they "lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep" (v.4). We should put ourselves in their shoes, consider what emotions would we have had if that was us. Would we feel like praying then? Would we be as David and encourage ourselves in the LORD in that moment? Probably not. However, David did not focus on his distress, instead he lifted up his head and inquired of the LORD. If we kept reading this chapter we would see that God restored everyone back to David and his men. Now, we can clearly understand that life is not lived based on our emotions that can change in a blink of an eye. Paul instructs us in Philippians 4 to "rejoice in the LORD always: and again I say, Rejoice." We should not have any confidence in the characteristics of our flesh (such as our emotions) but instead walk in the Spirit. We live by faith. Faith is not something that we feel. Let's take a look at faith for a moment.

What is Faith?

 Hebrews 11: 1-3 defines what faith is, " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11)  Faith is a substance, it is direct, something that we already have. Our body has 5 senses, see, taste, feel, smell, and hear. Did you know we have a 6th sense? It is faith. You do not feel faith, you do not see faith, you do not taste faith, and you do not hear faith. It is not something that we work up within ourselves, it is based on what we know, the very evidence of things not seen, and in this case felt. Here is a basic example to put this more in perspective. Let's say that we tell someone that we will see them tomorrow, how do we know that? We are not promised tomorrow, however we have faith that we will see that person again tomorrow. Here is another example, how about we set a timer on our coffee pot for our coffee to be hot and fresh when we get up the next morning. We expect there to be coffee, right? WE cannot guarantee it but we expect it to be there. That is faith. Faith is very simple, but that most important point is that it cannot be felt. I forget this fact all of the time. I always think I need to feel a certain way in order for me to convince myself that I believe God will answer my prayers. I do not need to feel it, God has promised me throughout His Word that He will deliver, He will hear my cry, He will heal me, etc. If we pray for healing and we don't feel any different we become discouraged. Yet, it doesn't make a difference how we feel or what we may see, we are healed anyhow if we commit it to God. Life, and more importantly our relationship with Jesus Christ, should NEVER be based on our emotions.

Happy moments- Praise God

Difficult moments- Seek God

Quiet moments- Worship God

Painful moments- Trust God

Every moment- Thank God

So when we get up in the morning we may not feel like doing anything, but let us pray to God that if we don't get anything done today let us at least know Him more and love Him better. Let's not forget that we walk by faith not by sight or emotion. God Bless You.

*Please reflect with me and let me know your thoughts about this topic in the comments section below. Thank you!